The Late Bronze Age (about 1600-1050 BC) was an important period for Cyprus – its trading contacts reached from the Aegean to the Levant and Egypt. Several cities, like Enkomi on the east coast, were major trading centres, probably exporting Cypriot copper and importing Mycenean pottery from Greece. Skilled Cypriot craftsmen produced jewellery, and ivory and bronze figures. Cypriot potters made a large range of vessels for cooking and storage, both for local use and for export.

Pottery was made by hand, without the wheel, and was often modelled on, or even moulded over, gourds. The pots were made in small potteries in different parts of the island and show a great deal of variety. One of the most common types of vessel in the Late Bronze Age was Base Ring Ware: as the name suggests, handled jugs or flagons in this ware were built up on ring bases. The vessels were originally copied from bronze prototypes and often decorated in relief.

Among the most common and characteristic Late Bronze Age Cypriot pots are the White Slip ‘milk bowls’. They are shaped like half gourds with handles attached, and are decorated with intricate patterns in white slip. They were made only on Cyprus but have been found as exports throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and North Africa.